Better Man
by TheGummiBear
Summary: Bud and Harm have to defend the selfconfessed murderer of a Commander, but there's more to the case than it seems. All will become clear I promise...
1. Chapter 1

Better Man.  


Synopsis: Bud and Harm have to defend the self-confessed murderer of a Commander, but there's more to the case than it seems.

Disclaimer: None of the JAG characters belong to me SNIFF.

The street was empty except for a lone red car and three broken, unused trash cans. A cat peeked out from behind the car, it's eyes glowing brightly in the pitch black dark. As stumbling footsteps sounded down the street, the cat slunk away. A man, hunched over, arms round his belly, stumbled to the car, collapsing against the side. He fumbled with the lock, gasping breathlessly. Finally, unlocking the door, he collapsed inside with exhaustion. He took his hands from his belly, staring at the blood that covered them. He turned his key in the ignition, slumped back in his seat, waves of pain racking his body. Then the car sped out of the alley.

Doctor Alex Barnes was just finishing his shift at Bethesda Naval Hospital, when he got an urgent call from a nurse. There was a bullet wound patient, just stumbled into the ER. Rushing down, he caught the nurse taking the man to surgery. The young man's face was pale, dark brown hair messy. He had lost a lot of blood. As they ran down the corridor, the man's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed Alex's wrist, " Help me..." He whispered, " They're trying to kill me... the plane..." Then he slumped back, unconcious again. Shaken, Alex asked the nurse, " What's his name?"

" Commander Jack Sheldon."

" Commander Jack Sheldon was brought into the ER at Bethesda Naval Hospital at ten o'clock yesterday evening with a gunshot wound to the belly. Or more acurately, the Commander brought himself the whole way." Admiral AJ Chegwidden looked up at Commander Harmon 'Harm' Rabb, and Colonel Sarah 'Mac' MacKenzie, over the top of a report, " Normally, NCIS would conduct an investigation. However, since the shooter has come forward, the case has come straight to us. Commander, you'll defend, Colonel, you'll prosecute."

" Yes sir."

" Dismissed."

Mac and Harm hurried out of the Admiral's office, past Petty Officer Tiner, and raced towards their respective offices, both determined to get a head start on the other. As he dived through his door, Harm smirked at Mac, who had been waylaid by Lieutenant Bud Roberts. She scowled back at him and he grinned. He looked down at the case file in his hand, his grin disappearing. He tossed it down on his desk, and slumped in his chair. He leaned forward as he read, his expression dark and intent. He was so involved that he didn't hear Bud knocking on his door. He jumped and looked up, " Yes Bud?"

" Admiral says I'm sitting second chair to you on this one."

Harm regarded him for a second, then beckoned him in. Bud sat down, dragging his chair round so he could look over Harm's shoulder at the open file. What he read, shocked him.

Harm looked at the horrified expression on his friend's face, " How are we gonna defend this guy Bud?" He asked, " I'm not sure I even want to defend him."

" We have to sir."

Jack Sheldon was a young man, bright, a naval aviator with some of the highest scores in the Navy. His service record photo showed a good looking man, with brown hair and bright pierceing blue eyes. Bud, looking between the photo and his friend, noted how similar to Harm he appeared to be. His record showed a few incidents, fights with other Commanders, the same when he was a Lieutenant. Bud indicated this, but harm dissmissed it with a small shrug and abashed grin, commenting that it was common to have infighting amoung pilots. Bud grinned back, wisely keeping silent. Two days ago, however, he had stumbled into the ER at Bethesda with a gunshot wound to his belly. He'd barely survived the surgery, and was now in a coma, not expected to wake up. His killer had come forward the next day with a full confession. And now, Harm and Bud had to defend him.

Harm leaned back in his desk chair, sighing, " 'M stuck." He said gloomily.

" Me too..." Bud said, slightly unconvincingly.

Harm sat up, " You got an idea?" He asked.

" Maybe."

Mac stared at the file in front of her. Something here didn't add up. The doctor's statement and the killer's statement told two different stories of the motives. The killer claimed he'd killed him in anger, the Commander had been seeing his girlfriend. The doctor said the victim had told him that he had been killed because of something to do with a plane. He'd said 'they' were trying to kill him. She shook her head. This could turn out to be harder to prosecute then she'd first imagined. She looked over at Harm's office, wondering if they were thinking the same as her. Sure enough, their heads were bent over the file, puzzled expressions on their faces. Mac sighed. There was obviously something else to this case. Something that they weren't being told. And she didn't like it. She grabbed the phone and dialed a number. She got a message saying the number she had dialed was engaged. Looking over at Harm's office, she saw him talking on the phone. He grinned at her and she glared at him, then crossed the short space between their offices.

He beckoned her in, indicating she should sit down next to Bud, then put the phone on speaker. Clayton Webb's voice echoed through the room. Yes, he'd been thinking exactly the same as her. Spooky, how he did that. Webb was busy denieing any knowledge of the case, but Mac could hear doubt in his voice. Finally, after a long argument he agreed to meet them the next day. Reluctantly. They hung up, with a feeling that they might not actually ever see him.

After Harm hung up, he looked at Mac, " I think we need to talk deals here." He sighed heavily.

Mac leaned forward, " Harm, there's obviously something here we don't know. I think one of us ought to suggest an investigation to the Admiral before we go anywhere near the courtroom."

Harm nodded slowly, " Fine. I'll do it, seeing as it's not exactly in your best intrests to prove my client not guilty. But if he says no..."

" We'll talk."

Admiral AJ Chegwidden liked to think of himself as a fairly reasonable man. As an ex-SEAL he was trained to handle all situations and people and to analyse how best to deal with them. Therefore, it annoyed him that Commander Harmon ' Harm' Rabb was still an enigma to him. The man was at once both infuriating and friendly. He was a good friend, though seemed at times to be oblivious to the fact that other people's feelings came into play. He was bright, but followed his heart which often got him into more trouble than it was worth. His judgement was not as good as AJ would wish it to be, yet the young man was obviously the best attorney of the bunch and one of the Navy's top pilots. He had passion and ambition.

The young lawyer stood in front of him now, nervously glancing up from the floor to AJ, then back again. He shuffled his feet, obviously impatient to know if his request would be granted ot he'd be yelled at instead for yet again letting his emotions dictate his actions. AJ was willing to do just that, but the facts were inrefutable. There was something else to this case, and it needed to be investigate.

" Fine." He said eventually, he pressed a button on the intercom, " Tiner, get Colonel MacKenzie in here." He directed a long hard stare at Harm, " You'd better not mess this up Commander."

" Yes sir."

Several seconds later a knock on the door announced Mac's arrival and she entered the room looking slightly harrased, " Sir." She stood to attention next to Harm, who AJ suddenly realised was still standing at attention.

" At ease." He said, " Both of you." The two officers relaxed, " I'm authorising the two of you to investigate this case, and will suspend the court martial for two weeks. If, in that time, you cannot determine whether the accused is the killer, the trial will resume. Got it?"

" Yes sir."

" All right. And be careful. Dissmissed."

They nodded, spun smartly round, and left, the door closing gently behind them. AJ banged his head on the desk with frustration. Tiner poked his head round the door, " Painkillers sir?" He asked sympathetically.

" Go away Tiner!"

" Yes sir."

" Mac, how are we possibly gonna prove any of that?!" Harm asked incredulously as he tried to unlock his front door with a overflowing bag of shopping in his hand. He held the door open as his partner, another bag of shopping in her hands. She dumped the bag down on the table top, and Harm caught it just as it tipped over the edge, looking at her askance.

" I don't know." She sat down in a chair, " But something's going on and your client isn't talking."

Harm pointed a finger at her, his expression amused, " He's not my client anymore."

" Right."

Harm began throwing ingredients into a pan as Mac crossed and uncrossed her arms uncomfirtably. She got two plates out, knives and forks, a beer glass for Harm, a water glass for herself. As she was pouring drinks, Harm chuckled, " Heh, you know your way around my apartment better than I do!"

She looked at him, and for a moment the room was silent. Then she smiled and he smiled back, and everything was alright. Harm shook himself, returning to his cooking, " So," he asked after a minute, " Let's go over what we know."

" Right. The victim, Commander Jack Sheldon, is basically you. Hotshot pilot, trouble-maker, plenty of enemies, a hundred reasons someone might want to kill him..."

" Alright, alright, I get the point!" Harm interupted, glaring at her, " Thing is, the guy who confessed to having killed him, Commander Grant Hodgins has no motive _and _an alibi."

" And, before he went into surgery, Commander Sheldon said 'they' were trying to kill him. And something about a plane." Mac frowned, " The plane bit's odd."

" Not that odd, Mac. He's an aviator. My money's on Hodgins, the guy's covering for someone."

" Yeah. Question is who... Hey, is that dinner ready yet?" Mac asked eagerly.

Harm laughed, " Be patient!"

It didn't take long for the two partners to finish dinner, and soon they were sitting on the bed in the next room, Harm being somewhat lacking in furnishings, laughing and chatting. The phone rang and Harm leaned across Mac to get the phone. As she giggled and squirmed out of the way, it occured to Harm how comfortable the friends were together, bringing a smile to his face. " Rabb." He said, in a tone conveying that this'd better be important or he would kill someone.

" Um, sir? You and Colonel MacKenzie'd better get back to the office right away, there's something you need to see." It was Bud, out of breath and panting.

" Okay, Bud. Calm down. Breathe." Harm said, in a tone of voice Bud found slightly patronising.

" Yes sir." He grumbled.

Naturally Harm was oblivious to his subordinate's displeasure, " What is it Bud?"

" It's Commander Hodgins sir. He, uh, he's dead sir. Tiner found him. Downstairs."

Harm shot to his feet, " We'll be right there."

Mac looked at him quizically.

" It's Hodgins. He's dead." Harm told her, pulling on his coat.

The two ran to the lift, Harm pausing only to close the door. As soon as they got to the office, the sooner they could clear up the mess, the less likely the Admiral would be to yell at them... Harm's phone rang. Too late. " Rabb!" Harm held the phone away from his ear, looking at it as if it was going to attack him, " Why the hell is there a dead body in my office? And why is he bleeding all over my carpets? Well?!"

" Uh, I...er... It's like this sir... I really have no idea."

An angry sigh was all her heard, then, very quietly, " The SecNav's going to kill me for this you know."

" Yes sir."

" And when the SecNav's angry, I'm angry. And you know who's in trouble if I'm angry."

" Tiner, sir?"

" Don't try and be a smart arse with me Harm!"

" Yes sir!" Harm grimmaced, " We'll be there in ten minutes sir."

" You'd better be!" The line went dead.

" Bud!" Harm hissed from his office door, " You seen the Admiral?"

" Not yet." The other lawyer whispered back, " Tiner says he's going to be in late. Didn't say why."

Harm sighed, " Okay. Thanks Bud."

It was the next morning, Harm and Mac had been up all night sorting the mess caused by the arrival of the late Commander Hodgins. Last time they had seen the Admiral he had not been most pleased and was threatening to court martial everyone who'd come into contact with the Commander in the last week up to and including Harm and Mac. Harm had been hoping to head of the Admiral before he reported to the SecNav and give him an update on the case. Unfortunatly, it looked as if the Admiral had already reported to the SecNav, or was in hiding. Whichever, it didn't really matter. The important thing was that he wasn't where Harm needed him to be. And at this rate, he and Mac were never going to make their meeting with Webb.

" Admiral on deck!"

Finally. Harm poked him head out of his office door, checking to see if SecNav was anywhere around. Satisfied that the other man wasn't anywhere in close proximity, Harm slipped out of the office as Admiral Chegwidden strode by. " Rabb!" The older man snapped, not even looking at him, " My office. Now!"

Shooting Mac and Bud a 'what did I do now?' look, Harm followed.

The Admiral strode through the office door, ignoring Tiner's offers of coffee, and dumped him jacket and briefcase on the desk. Harm snapped to attention as the older man turned his gaze on him.

" At ease Commander. Update please."

" Yes sir." Harm looked down at his feet, " We think this has to do with a CIA project the Commander's were drafted into a few months ago. Flying test planes I believe. We're going to meet Webb today, see if we can get any information out of him."

" Be very careful. SecNav's breathing down my neck here, I don't want the situation to get any worse, you understand?"

" Yes sir."

" Now, something else. Commander Sheldon's life support was turned off last night. We're now up to two counts of premeditated murder."

" Yes sir."

" Dismissed."

" Yes sir." Harm turned to go, then hesitated.

The Admiral looked up, " Something else Harm?"

" Uh, yes sir."


	2. Chapter 2

" Two things, sir. One, we're assuming that the guy who killed Commander Sheldon also killed Commander Hodgins, for all we know the two crimes aren't even related."

" That would be one hell of a coincidence Commander."

" Yes sir." Harm stared at the floor a moment, " The other is personal sir, I'd like to ask for a favour from you."

AJ frowned, " Go ahead Commander."

Clayton Webb, a fairly young, troubled CIA agent, had been friends with Harm for a long time, but the two men were only just learning to trust each other. There was an easy raport between the two, but it was obvious that they were both on edge. Mac and Harm met Clay in a cafe in DC, he already had a mug of coffee and was sitting back, almost relaxed, only his tense muscles giving away his nervousness. Harm figured that the loss of his father as a child had adversly affected Clay, making him even more paranoid than most CIA agents. However, Clay was also more moral than most CIA agents and could almost always be counted to defy his superiors and give you a hand if you were in a bad situation. He'd certainly saved Harm's six on a number of occasions, for which Harm would be eternally grateful to him for.

He slid into a seat opposite Clay and grinned, " Long time no see."

" Likewise." Clay leaned forwards, " Okay, whadaya want?"

" Okay, what do you know about the project Commander Jack Sheldon and Commander Grant Hodgins were working on? I know it has something to do with flying test planes because the guy in charge of the operation tried to draft me into it but Admiral Chegwidden wouldn't let him."

Clay sighed and leaned back, " Nothing. Harm, what's going on?"

" Both of them were murdered. Before he died, Sheldon said 'they' were trying to kill him, and something about a plane. We think it was the test plane." Mac answered for her partner, slightly offended that she was being left out of this conversation.

Webb sat back in his chair, " Fine. I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise results. If this is the project I think it is, then it's pretty heavily classified. I'll call ya."

He got up, throwing some change down on the table and walked off. Harm leaned back, " Well, that was friendly of him."

The two lawyers left soon after Clay, returning to where Harm had left his car. They climbed in and Harm closed his eyes after putting the key in the ignition. Then, without a word, he started the car and drove off. Mac watched him from the other seat. He looked as if he hadn't slept for a couple of days, there were dark bags under his eyes and he looked pale.

" Harm, you okay?" Mac asked.

" Yeah, fine." But the reply lacked the conviction she needed. She sat back with a sigh. He'd tell her when he was ready. She hoped.

_**Sorry for the short chapter but it had to be short for impact. More soon. Promise. Meanwhile, reviews keep a writer happy; and the happier the writer, the faster the writer! Go on, press the button, you know you want to!!**_


End file.
